Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select.

About the Author

Emma Mills is a debut author better known to her subscribers as vlogger Elmify. She is also co-creator and co-host of the "life skills" channel How to Adult.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

It's at Amber Brunati's annual Pink Party that everything begins to unravel.

The invitation — on thick pink paper, naturally, with gold and turquoise swirls — had declared it to be the last great luncheon of the summer. As if my summer had been packed to bursting with a whole host of other themed luncheons instead of babysitting jobs and shifts at Pinky's Sub Shop. It also implied that there had been a number of mediocre luncheons this summer, as this was meant to be the last of the great ones.

I stare around Amber's backyard at clustered tables covered in pink gingham cloths and at the girls around said tables. We're all wearing pink except for Iris Huang, who had the nerve to arrive in lavender (Amber's angry whispers carried clear across the lawn), and Kaitlyn Winthrop, who is technically wearing magenta. This seems to incense Amber even more, because while we all know that Iris's dress is a big official eff you to the entire Pink Party construct, Kaitlyn doesn't seem to realize that she's committed a faux pas.

"Someone get that girl a color wheel," Amber hisses angrily to Madison Lutz, sitting to my left. "Someone get her a fucking Pantone booklet because magenta is not pink. We all know magenta is not pink, right?" She looks to me. "Right?"

"Abso-tootin-lutely!" I declare loudly, because I am a moron.

It's quiet for a split second, and then a laugh escapes from Madison.

Amber doesn't laugh, but her lips twitch in amusement. "Yes. Good. Thank you, Claudia. Glad we're all on the same page."

In truth, we are rarely all on the same page. More often than not, they're all on one page, and I'm on a completely different one. It can't be helped most of the time. Society itself puts us on different pages. They drive Range Rovers and have celebrity deejays at their sweet sixteens. I had to scrape and scrounge and toast subs, and remake the subs that I toasted badly, just to buy a car. A car that isn't even 100 percent mine. My brother technically owns 40 percent of it and somehow manages to drive it 80 percent of the time.

But I don't say any of this to Amber for fear she might fling a tray of cookies at me. Instead I watch as Madison pats Amber's back. "You need to breathe, okay?" she says. "Eat a macaron. They have lavender in them, right? That's supposed to be calming."

We all look across the yard to where Iris is seated with Paige Breckner. Together, she and Paige hold the titles of class president three years running (Iris), most popular girl in our grade (Paige), and cutest couple in our school (collectively).

Though "cutest" isn't quite right. I don't think anyone who knows her would use the word cute to describe anything relating to Iris Huang. Objectively, she has a roundness-of-face and smallness-of-stature that could traditionally be deemed cute. But she's also ruthless and unforgiving and, some would say, ill-mannered and incredibly unpleasant. Somehow, this doesn't seem to affect her political standing, but then again, that often seems to be the case in the real world as well.

But Paige and Iris have been the longest-enduring couple on record during our time at the Prospect-Landower School for Girls, and so they are automatically termed "cutest," because that's shorter than "longest-enduring couple on record during our time at the Prospect-Landower School for Girls."

I saw them once — I mean I've seen them lots of times — but once, after school, I saw them sitting on the low wall outside the lit building, sharing a pair of earbuds and listening to something on one of their phones. Their heads were bent together, and then all of a sudden Paige started dancing in her spot, mouthing along the words to whatever song it was.

Iris looked up at her, smiled, and then looked back at the phone. Paige started bopping harder, lip-synching more emphatically, pointing at Iris.

Iris ducked her head, blushed, focused on the screen until Paige got to her feet, took Iris's hands, and pulled her up, trying to get her to jump around. Iris looked flustered but ... endeared, I guess. Fond in a way I had never seen her look.

When Iris finally relented and joined in dancing, the earbud jerked right out of her ear. She scrambled for it, accidentally yanking the other out of Paige's ear. They both ended up bent over laughing, leaning on each other for support.

It was sweet — that's why it stuck with me. A rare moment where Iris didn't seem completely steely but instead kind of awkward and fumbly and smitten.

So maybe "cutest" still means cutest, even where she's involved.

Right now, Paige is chatting with Sudha Prabhu, laughing behind one hand as Sudha gestures animatedly, while Iris looks for all the world like she's waiting in an airport terminal and her flight has just been canceled. In a sea of pink, she is unrelentingly purple.

At my table, Madison grins at Amber. "Deep breaths."

"I just want everything to be perfect," Amber says, eyes wide and strangely earnest as she looks around the table at each of us. "Is it? Do you like the food? Are you having fun?"

We all affirm the quality of the food and the fun we're having. I nod emphatically as I hork down a petit four.

"I know it's silly," Amber says, "but it's just, you know. Senior year and all. Everything we do is sort of the last time we get to do it. So it should be perfect, right?"

We double down on the reassurances, and finally Amber seems satisfied.

"Okay. Okay, good." She stands promptly, smooths down the front of her dress, takes a deep breath, and then heads off to the next table.

I adjust my own dress as the other girls start talking about school. I borrowed it from Zoe, so although it fits the color scheme, it's also a little too short and a little too tight. When I came downstairs in it, my mom said "Wowza," and my dad, brow wrinkled, asked, "What kind of party is this again?"

Truth be told, I'd risk Amber's wrath and wear the wrong color if it meant Zoe could be here with me, wearing this dress instead. She is my best friend, and there's only so much a text can convey. Some of this stuff you just have to witness to fully appreciate. And most of it, I'd probably have a lot more fun witnessing with her.

But Zoe goes to Springdale High School, and I go to PLSG, and this isn't really the kind of thing where you can bring a plus one. So I send her a quick text update and then listen in on Madison and Ainsley Stewart discussing some band they both watched on TV last night.

The rest of the luncheon goes well, much to Amber's relief. We eat fancy finger foods. We toast each other with fizzy pink punch. There are speeches filled with assurances that this is going to be the "best year ever" and a shit ton of light applause.

Paige stands at one point and thanks Amber for hosting.

If you're giving a presentation in class, Paige is the person who smiles at you when you catch her eye and nods encouragingly, like she's actually listening. We had gym together freshman year, and whenever she was captain, she insisted on everyone counting off instead of picking teams.

When she finishes her toast, she turns to Iris with a smile. "Do you want to add something, babe?"

They share a look — in the silence, Paige's expression shifts from hopeful to imploring — until finally Iris pushes her chair back and stands, holding up her glass of punch. She clears her throat.

"Careless tourism and destructive fishing practices are destroying our world's coral reefs," she says, and then takes a drink.

I can't tell if it's a joke. Like, admittedly you probably shouldn't joke about the destruction of our world's coral reefs. A few people chuckle uncomfortably anyway.

Iris sits abruptly. Paige is still standing, her glass raised.

The look on her face is stricken, but somehow she manages to recover a smile. "Thank you again, Amber," she says. "This is ... a great way to end the summer."

And that's the last of the speeches. Conversation resumes around our little tables, and I excuse myself after a bit. Amber's mom points me in the direction of the bathroom, but once I get inside the house, I realize that her directions of "to the left and across from the music room" kind of hinge on knowing which room is the music room. Which I don't.

So I head to the left and open the first door I come upon, and to my disappointment, it isn't a bathroom but a bedroom.

I'm in luck though — there's a bathroom en suite. I dash in and take care of business, and then I spend way too long sampling the products in pretty bottles on the bathroom counter.

I'm admiring the scents that I've so expertly layered together (by squirting three random lotions on at the same time) when I hear sounds from the outer room: voices approaching and then the closing of the bedroom door. Sealing the voices inside.

"— believe you would act like that."

"I didn't want to make a speech. I thought that was obvious."

"Coral reefs? Seriously?"

"Tell me we shouldn't be more concerned about the state of the coral reefs."

Paige and Iris.

I'd always thought they were a good pair. People don't like Iris, generally, but they respect that she gets shit done. Conversely, everyone loves Paige. She's friendly and kind, neutral good through and through. She softens Iris. And I guess Iris gives her an edge. What's that saying — iron fist in a velvet glove? Iris is the former, and Paige is the latter.

"I'm not saying it's not true, I'm saying it's not relevant to the situation. This isn't a freaking Envirothon meeting!"

"Please. You know I don't like how those Envirothon kids conduct themselves."

"You couldn't think of one nice thing. About Amber, or the summer, or school, or anything. One nice thing. You could've said the punch is good."

"The punch tastes like Windex."

"Iris."

"What?"

"At the very least, would it have been so hard to put on a pink dress?"

"I'm not gonna do something just because someone tells me to."

"You do tons of things because someone tells you to! You wear shoes in restaurants! You obey seat belt laws!"

"There's a big difference between doing something to prevent myself from flying through a car windshield and doing something to satisfy a meaningless color scheme at a meaningless party that neither of us actually care about."

"I care about it," Paige says, and something in her voice sounds frayed. "But that doesn't matter to you. What I want. You never even ask me. You just assume. You always — always — just assume."

Silence follows. And in this silence, I realize several things — first, that this is not just a little spat about a speech or a dress code. And second, that my temporal window for stepping out of the bathroom and announcing my presence has entirely closed. I'm in it for the long haul. I have to wait them out.

"I don't want to do this," Iris says finally.

A pause. "Do you understand though? About the dress? And the party? Do you get that it's important to me? And, like, how something that matters to me should be important to you, too?"

"It's stupid though," Iris says. "This whole thing is stupid. If it was something that actually mattered, I would —" She cuts off, starts again. "You know I would ..." She doesn't finish.

"You would what?" A beat. "What would you do?"

"I don't know." Iris sounds sullen. "I would act like I cared more."

It's quiet. Behind me, a bead of water drips from the faucet into the sink.

And then there are footsteps in the outer room. I can't tell which of them has moved toward the other. Or if they've moved away.

I press my ear to the door. I'm only human, after all, and this is possibly the best bit of drama I've unwittingly stumbled onto in the whole of my high school career.

"What are you saying?"

"I love you," she says again, and I'm fairly certain she's crying now. "But I want you to be different. I want, I wa —" Her voice hitches, like a sob. "I want you to be better than you are."

I dated a boy named Will Sorenson for almost a whole semester in tenth grade. January to April. We were going to go to his junior prom together that year, but he broke up with me just two weeks shy.

We were in his basement, and he was playing an online role-playing game called Battle Quest. His character — a humanoid dragon named Alphoneus Centurion — was approaching a snow-covered vista with a monster in his sights when Will glanced over at me and said, "So I don't know, I just think maybe we should break up, you know?"

Like we had been having a conversation this whole time that I had somehow missed. I pressed him to explain as Alphoneus Centurion launched a series of attacks against the monster.

"I just think that when you're with someone, you should ... feel something. Right?"

"You don't feel anything with me?"

"I feel regular with you," he said. "But I don't feel ... you know. Well, I mean, if you knew, then you'd understand, and you'd want me to feel that with someone else. And if you don't know, then that means you don't feel it either, and so we probably shouldn't be together anyway."

Alphoneus raised his ax. The monster was a goner.

Up until this moment, I thought that was the most crushing thing you could say to someone you're dumping. That you feel regular with them. It sort of managed to negate every sweet thing that we ever had together. Like it was all fake. One-sided, on my part. I was elated the first time he held my hand. I thought I might float off the sidewalk. And now looking back, I see that everything that was massive to me, everything that was meaningful — to him it was just regular.

But Paige Breckner just took the cake in the breakup department. I want you to be better than you are. If I were Iris, I would've disintegrated on the spot.

Iris does no such thing. She just speaks, after a long pause, her voice in stark contrast to Paige's. It's calm. Crisp. No hint of tears.

And then a sound comes. A loud one in fact — the very clear and deliberate peal of a bell.

For a split second, it doesn't make any sense. Paige breaks up with Iris and Iris responds by whipping out a handbell?

Then I realize. My phone.

I fumble with my bag. Purses are interdimensional sometimes, I swear — particularly when you're trying to get something out of one. I finally extricate the phone, but three more texts follow in the intervening time — three more pealing bells — that only serve to further sink me.

The silence that follows is deafening.

I look into my palm. I might as well see the texts that are my undoing.

I need an update, Zoe's first message reads.

Are you eating cahhhhviahhhr with Ahhhmber

And Mahhhhdison and Aaaaaainsley and Desk Lahhhmp

And all of your other fahhhhhbulous clahhhhssmates?

I almost laugh — it would be funny, normally, but now it's so terrible it goes from terrible back into funny.

Until there's the sound of footsteps that are most definitely approaching and a firm knock on the door directly in front of my face. Then it goes right back into terrible.

"How do you know it wasn't your phone?" I reply. Because. I am. A moron.

I squeeze my eyes shut. Take a deep breath. And then I open the door.

It's a Moment, between the three of us. There are just two hundred students at PLSG. Fifty girls a grade. And although I know Amber and Madison and Ainsley and Desk Lamp (there isn't really a Desk Lamp, but Zoe likes to make fun of the names, how "everyone sounds like an item from a furniture catalog, seriously") and all the others in a cursory manner, there aren't many of them that I have had genuine Moments with.

The thing about Moments is that just because a moment is one, doesn't mean it's a good one. They are not all Special, or Cherished, as picture frames and embellished scrapbook inserts would have you believe.

This is more of the Painfully Awkward variety. Me, clutching my phone in the bathroom doorway, looking quite like my ear had just been pressed against the door — because my ear had just been pressed against the door. Paige, her face red, cheeks wet, eyes puffy. And Iris Huang, resplendent and terrifying in lavender YSL, looking at me with a quiet, smoldering, single-minded rage.

Paige speaks first. "We didn't know anyone was in here," she says, and she's clearly putting effort into sounding something close to normal, though she doesn't bother to wipe the tears tracking down her cheeks.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/09/2017“Redemption arc?” asks Claudia’s best friend, Zoe, curious about Claudia’s unexpected new friendship with Iris, her private school’s class president and infamous mean girl. It all starts when Claudia is forced to spend time with Iris for a class project, just as Iris is reeling from a breakup with her longtime girlfriend, Paige. Claudia discovers that Iris is more complicated and vulnerable than everyone assumes, and the evolution of their relationship—from enemies to intimate friends who respect and rely on each other—is compelling and real. Mills (This Adventure Ends) thoughtfully explores the nuances of all kinds of relationships, both friendly and romantic, via Claudia and her circle of friends. Also in the mix: Zoe is falling in love with Claudia’s brother, Iris longs to get back together with Paige, and Claudia faces her own insecurities and hopes for a romance with popular Gideon. Through these friendship struggles and romances old and new, Mills evokes the high stakes and vast rewards of trust, intimacy, and honesty. Ages 14–up. Agent: Bridget Smith, Dunham Literary. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2017Gr 8 Up—Claudia is at the last party of the summer before senior year when she overhears the breakup of two girls and finds herself on the wrong side of prickly student Iris, who is difficult and knows just how to use her words as knives. Claudia herself has recently gone through a breakup with a young man who explains that he just "feels regular" with her (no sparks) and she has no desire to expose herself to any sort of further romantic drama. And yet drama is where she lands when she and Iris both have to work on the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream along with increasingly attentive, cute as a button, goofy Gideon. While Claudia's developing romance with Gideon is textbook high school hyperbole, the backdrop of her school interactions, family events, (including her sister's dangerous premature delivery), gaming, part-time job, developing interest in a hot new band, and personal growth in her circle of friends is exceptional and drives the story forward on a level beyond the average derivative teen novel. VERDICT Purchase where Shakespeare-centered and theater-inspired books, and Mills's earlier titles circulate well.—Susan Riley, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

2017-08-27In Mills' (This Adventure Ends, 2016, etc.) latest, the beginning of senior year leads to new friendships and new love. When Claudia accidentally overhears the breakup of Iris and Paige, Prospect-Landower School for Girls' "cutest couple," no-nonsense Iris threatens to ruin her. Instead, Claudia and Iris strike up an unlikely friendship after a failed group project forces them to participate in the school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Iris is Chinese-American, the other primary characters ambiguously described, suggesting a white default. Claudia, who previously hadn't bothered to make friends outside her childhood bestie, Zoe, begins to open herself to her peers. Chief among them is outgoing, kindhearted Gideon, a student at nearby all-male Danforth Prep. Even when Claudia lets herself believe that Gideon may actually be interested in her, a previous breakup makes her hesitant to pursue a new relationship ("It's just easier to never start something than to have to see it end"). Unfortunately, the story follows the tired popular-boy-falls-for-unpopular-girl trope; otherwise, however, the characters are wonderfully fresh and honest. Claudia narrates in funny, conversational first-person present as the plot meanders toward opening night of Midsummer, allowing time for Claudia's blooming relationships and self-confidence to develop. The course of true love never did run smooth, but in the case of these two lovers, the journey is worth your while. (Fiction. 13-18)

". . . the characters are wonderfully fresh and honest. Claudia narrates in funny, conversational first-person present as the plot meanders toward opening night of Midsummer, allowing time for Claudia's blooming relationships and self-confidence to develop. The course of true love never did run smooth, but in the case of these two lovers, the journey is worth your while." Kirkus Reviews". . . the backdrop of [Claudia's] school interactions, family events, (including her sister's dangerous premature delivery), gaming, part-time job, developing interest in a hot new band, and personal growth in her circle of friends is exceptional . . . " School Library JournalThis Adventure Ends:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

“The invitation—on thick pink paper, naturally, with gold and turquoise swirls—had declared it to be the last great luncheon of the summer. As if my summer had been packed to bursting with a whole host of other themed luncheons instead of babysitting jobs and shifts at Pinky’s Sub Shop. It also implied that there had been a number of mediocre luncheons this summer, as this was meant to be the last of the great ones.”
Claudia Wallace is a high-school junior who lives and loves her life, going about each day with general pleasure and witty comebacks. Emma Mills created an amazingly lovable character with hilarious dialogue. She had me laughing out loud at some points. Claudia's sarcastic and expressive, but also a caring person. But when she finds herself caught up in the biggest break-up at her school, Claudia finds herself pulled into the spotlight and her character tested. In the aftermath, Claudia is forced to pair up with Iris Huang, the epitome of rudeness, for a school project. In doing so, she finds herself delving deeper into the worlds of those around her.
The plot of "Foolish Hearts" was light-hearted and engaging. It stayed away from the cliches and developed beautiful characters and a realistic world of teens, friendships, first love, and heartbreak. The plot was evenly-paced, balanced, and original. I loved the idea of taking students working together on a production “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and having the lessons in that story being learned in their own.
“Objectively, she has a roundness-of-face and smallness-of-stature that would traditionally be deemed cute. But she’s also ruthless and unforgiving and, some would say, ill-mannered and incredibly unpleasant”
Iris Huang was, for me, the least-liked character. However, as the plot moved forward, she also became the character who grew the most as Claudia learned more about her. As their friendship grew, the reader really learned about the true meanings of friendship and family. Iris Huang, at first, seemed like the typical angst character who the protagonist would redeem. However in "Foolish Hearts", Iris and Claudia helped each other be better people in life.
The wonderful part about this book is in how Emma Mills built up the characters and their relationships. The writing created, developed, and strung together so naturally Claudia’s relationships with Iris, Gideon, her best friend Zoe, her family and the rest of the play’s cast and crew. One of my favorite parts about the book was Claudia's relationship with Zoe, how it evolved and adapted, even through hard times between them. It felt very realistic and I could connect to having such a strong friendship with one person.
Overall, I found that Emma Mills blew it out of the water with this one. The plot was engaging and unpredictable, with me rooting for the characters until the very end. The ending was wrapped up nicely and there were no loose ends. The relationships were diverse and developed realistically. I loved it!

Morgan_S_M

5 months ago

I think this is my favorite Emma Mills book yet. I loved it SO much, the friendships, Gideon the space prince, Iris and Claudia bonding over the band that gave me 1D feels, just. All of it. It was super wonderful and relatable and sweet.

AReadingRedSox

More than 1 year ago

I absolutely loved this one. Everything I've read by Emma Mills has been fantastic, and FOOLISH HEARTS is my new favorite. I loved the characters so much, and the friendship that developed between Iris and Claudia was so fantastic. If you like contemporary novels, you'll love everything by Emma Mills.

Griffingirl

More than 1 year ago

This is everything I could ever want in a book. Shakespeare! Nerdy RPG games! Jokes about boy bands! This author's humor is so on point, I was literally reading lines out loud to my family every few pages. I think this might be one of my favorite books of the year (if not THE favorite!).

thereadingchick

More than 1 year ago

At a “Last party before Senior year starts” party, Claudia has escaped to the restroom where she is the unwilling witness to favorite couple Iris and Paige’s breakup. Caught in the act, Claudia tries to stay out of the rather mean girl Iris’ way, but ends up getting paired with her for a school assignment. Iris is not over her breakup and hates Claudia for witnessing it so isn’t the greatest partner for a project and surprise!… they fail. In order to get extra credit, their teacher makes them try out for the school play A Midsummer’s Nights Dream. There, Claudia’s world is upended. She meets a flirty boy, makes new friendships, and discovers a whole world outside her comfort zone. Oh, and she totally gets William Shakespeare.
I was totally surprised by Foolish Hearts. The premise wasn’t that unusual, but the author did a great job of capturing the flavors of new friendships, betrayal and first love. Claudia was used to living in the secure world she knew. Best friends with Zoe, the girl she grew up with, she never needed any other friends. Going to an all girl school, while Zoe remained in public school, Claudia was content with her world, but it was time for a shakeup. When she witnessed Paige and Iris’ breakup, she feels bad for Iris, even though she’s really hard to be around. When they both start work on the school play Claudia becomes the friend that Iris never wanted. I really loved how Claudia just kept going back for Iris’s abuse and saw through her mean girl act.
Gideon is the class clown, but the clown everyone laughs with and not at. He is uber popular, cute and an all around nice guy. The dialog between Claudia and Gideon was written so well. Even though it was PG-13 it was clever and full of wit, I found myself smiling at the great energy these two made together. He was not all surface charm and had hidden depths that came out as the story developed. This made Gideon multi dimensional and even more enjoyable to read.
There was a lot of drama in this high school romance, but there was also a lot of fun. The story and dialog was intricate and I got totally wrapped into the plot and characters forgetting that I am not the target reader for this type of book. That is a true compliment to the author. She made me forget my age! (If only more books could do this! LOL) Truly, Foolish Hearts had a great story that was easy to love and characters that learned and grew as the story moved forward. The name Foolish Hearts was apropos for the amount of relationship drama featured in this book, but I think it’s also a play on words to the relationship drama found in Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Maybe the author should rename this book Clever Hearts instead!

EllenRozek

More than 1 year ago

Can I just cheat and say that I love everything Emma Mills writes? Because I love everything Emma Mills writes. She writes with the same honesty, humor, and heart about friendship and self-worth and the importance of surrounding yourself with good, caring people in every one of her books, and FOOLISH HEARTS is no exception. This is exactly the kind of contemporary YA I needed in high school, and exactly the kind I need now: sweet and funny and wonderful all the way around.

Scarls17

More than 1 year ago

"A smile like that could be weaponized."
This was such a pleasant read that had be literally laughing out loud through out much of it, swooning so many times, and then wiping away tears at the end. Claudia is such a great main character. A teen who doesn't always fit in, but isn't a total outcast. I loved her wit and especially enjoyed how Emma Mills wrote some truly hilarious lines that she just left there so unassumingly perfect.

Ashdaisy

More than 1 year ago

I’m sure that I’m significantly older than the target audience for this book, but I loved this book so much. I’ve never laughed this much at a book in my entire life. I’m not even sure why I found some of their dialogue and thoughts so hilarious, but I honestly was smiling and laughing in real life and that never happens.
Claudia is a great heroine, very mature for a YA heroine and so endearing. Gideon is honestly the best hero ever. He is so funny and nice and I wish more people were like that in real life. All of the side characters were fantastic too, they all seemed so real.
This was such a great light read in between a lot of the more angsty stuff I read. Not that this didn’t have any angst, but it didn’t stress me out immensely, so that was a nice change. This book is for everyone, everyone can find something they love in this story.

TheLiteraryPhoenix

More than 1 year ago

Claudia is perfectly happy in her bubble of existence. She had good grades, gets along well enough with her classmates and great with her siblings. She has one bosom friend, and that’s all she needs in the world. Is she happy? As happy as anyone is, she supposes. Mostly she just tries not to think about things and be relatively invisible.
Which is why it’s so weird that suddenly Gideon Prewitt is super interested in talking to her, asking her to go to parties, and to sit with his friends at rehearsals. And it’s so weird suddenly having to go hang out with Iris Huang (who’s a sarcastic grump) to do extra credit on school projects. Suddenly she’s into a new boy band and going to the carnival and WHAT IS HAPPENING TO HER LIFE.
This is not a book about a girl who was an introvert and learns that being an extrovert is the meaning of happiness, so I’m going to kill that right there.
Claudia is just… Claudia. She likes play Battle Quest and gets Shakespeare and own 70% of a car she gets to use 40% of the time (or something like that). She pushes herself into some uncomfortable situations and she doesn’t magically find herself happy. In fact, there’s a WHOLE LOT of uncomfortable and awkward going on around Claudia, and that’s just her vibe. She’s Claudia.
I was really hesitant going into this one. Foolish Hearts wasn’t on my radar AT ALL before it arrived in my OwlCrate box. I’d never even heard of the author. And it’s YA Contemporary Romance. That is not my genre at all. Instead of trudging though another boy-meets-girl book, Foolish Hearts was perfect. It was a slice of life, with a bunch of different characters in different stages of different kinds of relationships. I love all of the characters for very different reasons, and reading this at the end of 2017 which was a trainwreck of a year of me personally, this was just the right book.
Readers looking for FRIENDSHIPS in books instead of endless ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS… you won’t be disappointed here. Claudia and her best-friend-since-forever Zoe are fine, but I really enjoyed watching Claudia and Iris’ friendship. Noah and Gideon’s was also really good.
My favorite relationship, though? Claudia and her older sister Julia. They’re only together in person for one brief scene, but it was so perfectly real-to-life and just… great. One of my favorite scenes in the whole book.
Also, as someone who has spent years obsessing over MMORPGs, I adored the Battle Quest scenes. They made me laugh out loud, especially Gideon’s bits.
Alright, alright, I’m sorry… this review is getting a bit lengthy. Mostly I just want to encourage you to read this book. It was light, but it was real and interesting and the characters are fantastic and there’s some really great conversations in it. I loved it.

book_junkee

More than 1 year ago

This is officially my favorite book from Emma and going on my top books of the year.
I love love loved Claudia. She’s snarky af and her inner monologue was fantastic. Gideon is adorable and goofy and the two of them were so much fun together. Really, the entire cast of characters is perfection.
Plot wise, it was lovely. There are a few different plot threads, but it all went together so seamlessly. And somehow I’m completely okay with Emma’s apparent rule of no-kissing-until-the-end. The anticipation just slays me.
Overall, it was a cute and fun read. This will definitely be something I pick up and read again and again.
**Huge thanks to Henry Holt for providing the arc free of charge**

MakennaFournier

More than 1 year ago

I read This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills about a month a ago, and I knew after I had finished that that I definitely wanted to check out another book by her because I really enjoyed it, but it was the only book I had read by her so I couldn't say yet weather or not she would be an author who I would check out every book they publish or not. After reading Foolish Hearts, I can now confirm that she will be an auto-buy author for me.
I don't know if I can say this book was perfect, because I don't think any book can be 'perfect', but I can honestly say that I cannot think of anything that I would think of as negative. At first I thought I was not going to be the biggest fan of the romance, but then a couple of chapters after thinking that I started to become obsessed with Gideon. Not only did I like Gideon, but I liked him and Claudia together, and I think that is because I really relate to how Claudia deals with relationships. How she pulls away from people, how cautious she is, I could just relate to her so much, and that was pretty awesome.
On the note of being able to relate to her so much, I just LOVED the emphasis on Claudia's love for Battle Quest, it made my little MMO loving heart flutter. I loved it for so much for two reasons. The first is just that I personally do not see a lot (actually, I don't even know if I have read one) of books with a female main character who loves a video game like Claudia loves Battle Mage. The second one is because the game reminded me so much of World of Warcraft, a game which I used to play so much as a kid, and that was just another way I could relate to Claudia, and it started bringing back old memories for me.
It was really cool just seeing Claudia play the video game, but what made that aspect of the book even better was that she played with her family/best friend. I know I have said I loved a lot of things about this book, but I am going to say it again, because I really loved seeing all of them play together.
I feel like this review is getting pretty long, and it is just me going on about everything that I loved about this book, but the last thing that I wanted to mention that I liked about this book was Iris and Zoe. I (once again) loved the different friendship dynamics. This book did a great job of balancing out the romance, family, and the friendships, to a point where I wanted to read about all three and not just one (which is how I usually end up doing/feeling when reading contemporaries).